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Episode 11: D'Arcee Neal
213 Plays1 month ago
Cerebral Palsy Foundation on Instagram: @yourcpf
CPGU on Instagram: @cerebralpalsygrowsup
Credits
Host: Alexa Orban
Executive Producers: Ashley Harris Whaley, Rachel Byrne
Producers: Katy Gaastra, Kyle Khachadurian
Graphics: Briana Raucci
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome to Cerebral Palsy Grows Up. Join us as we explore the unique experiences and stories of adults living with cerebral palsy. We hope this podcast helps you feel a sense of camaraderie and community. Today, we're joined by D. R. C. Neal, Assistant Professor of English at Fairfield University, working in digital media and disability studies.
00:00:32
Speaker
Today, we discussed ERC's career in academia along with broader themes of disability and race, diving into the intersectionality of it all. Today's episode was full of a lot of thoughtful discussion, and we hope you enjoy it.
Neal's Academic Journey
00:00:47
Speaker
Well, DRC, we're so excited to have you today on the Cerebral Palsy Grows Up podcast. And to kick off the conversation, we'll ask you to give a brief self-introduction. Um, sure. So, uh, my name is, uh, Dr. DRC Channing Sunil, and that still sounds very weird in my mouth because I just graduated like a year ago. So like saying that feels incredibly grown up, but it's also ah truly true.
00:01:13
Speaker
ah um I am 38 years old, I am African American, and I am currently um in Canada right now. I'm sitting on a very comfortable couch with a t-shirt that says, love is love. um And yeah, enjoying this space that I'm in. Thank you for having me.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah, we're so excited because I think this conversation can just go and in so many awesome ways, but I definitely want to start with the fact that you're such an accomplished academic. So it's amazing that, you know, you're looking back and saying, oh, well, it was only a year ago, but it's definitely something um to celebrate. And so you graduated with your PhD in rhetoric and composition last year, and now you work as an English professor. um Can you share a bit about what your thesis focused on and what you teach?
00:02:04
Speaker
Um, yeah, no. So, um, my research, um, it's a little weird, but it it stems, I mean, if I'm just being honest, it stems from the fact that, uh, I just really love Black Panther. Like I have to start there and like when I saw Black Panther in 2018, um,
00:02:25
Speaker
You know, there's a reason why that movie is so large for the black community, primarily because it's the first time in American cinema history and really on film that you have an all black cast in a superhero sci-fi movie with a big budget that isn't focused on like trauma.
00:02:49
Speaker
and slavery and drugs and or anything that's like very stereotypical. And it was really good. um And so the fact that it won Oscars and you know black people were just, we were so excited to have something like that on the mainstream.
Afrofuturism and Afrofantasm
00:03:07
Speaker
But when I went to see the movie, I was thinking like, this is so awesome to have like a futuristic Africa and like this idea of what Africa could have and should have been.
00:03:17
Speaker
But I was really also struck by the fact that even in this future version, there were no visibly disabled people. um And that just really stuck with me. And I was just like, how is this supposed to be like the most perfect place on earth? And they just it just really got on my nerves. So when I started doing my research, um looking at, I mean, so rhetoric is basically, it's not like what you say, that's linguistics. It's more about like, why you say something.
00:03:46
Speaker
um And it's it's looking at the construction of like how people put together ideas and concepts and like the reasonings behind that. So ah I kind of took that concept and applied it to Black Panther in relation to disability and essentially was looking at the idea of Afrofuturism, which is this idea of like Black people existing in the future, but not just being there in um and a future space where we have full agency, we finally achieve like the freedom that we deserve, we are finally respected and you know treated equally as members of society. um And they're also like really rich.
00:04:28
Speaker
and powerful in a space that I mean, right now in the United States is not a thing. So um yeah, I've really just kind of combined those two concepts together to look at like disability and Afrofuturism. And um specifically, I came up with this concept that I call Afrofantasm, which kind of looks at the way in which Black disabled people are like erased out of society. But more than just the negatives out of it,
00:04:57
Speaker
It's also about how, as an erased person, how you can weaponize that erasure to use it as a weapon. Because I feel like that's what I've done my entire life. And like understanding that form of erasure and how people are overlooking you can actually be very useful if you understand how it works.
00:05:18
Speaker
Well, I definitely want to dive into a lot of this that you just covered because I am just so impressed, especially with the thesis because, you know, to come up with that idea and then go in depth with so many layers, like, I mean, just to to have that spark from watching Black Panther to then starting this project, it sounds like it unfolded even into more of what you're doing professionally now.
Identity and Academia
00:05:42
Speaker
Definitely. I mean, the reality is that, I mean, I'm the only person in a wheelchair out of almost 500 faculty at my university. um I was also pretty much the only person in a wheelchair in every class that I ever had at five different universities across three different countries. And, you know, the thing is, is like, you get used to being put in a situation where it you're always the only one. like And it's you know it's funny because there are some black people that are like, well, i don't you know I don't like feeling like that, or I don't like being in that space. And the reality is,
00:06:23
Speaker
I feel like America constantly forgets one of the questions I ask my students. um you know Part of teaching, I think, is about theater. And I'm actually really grateful that I have a theater degree because it's proven very useful um in my work. I love asking students, like what percentage of the United States do you think is African American? And 95% of my students are Latinx. And so they will just pop off with, like 60% like 60 to 65% I'm like what you think 65% of the United States is black and then but I but the funny thing is I know why they say that and then of course I'm just like 13% and they're like why and I'm like 13% we're only 13% of the US population we're quite small
00:07:14
Speaker
But the reason you feel like it's 65 is because we are so good at everything we do. And we just, I mean, Beyonce, rock and roll, sports, music, cooking. I mean, it doesn't matter what it is. Like, that's kind of the phrase behind the idea of what we call Black excellence.
00:07:32
Speaker
it's It's literally a narrative of overcoming despite of, and that's the part that I find so intriguing and really useful when I am literally just trying to have a conversation with people because disability, I feel that disability is in the same category. you know People are constantly overlooking disabled people and constantly telling us you know, what it is that we cannot can and cannot do. And I, yeah you know, it's always like, it's one of those things of like, the richest person in the room will never tell you that they're rich because they don't need to.
00:08:09
Speaker
you will know, but they I mean, there's a difference between being rich and being wealthy. And, you know, I feel like that's one of those things where it's like, if you know who you are as a person and you understand how it works, then you don't need to go around constantly arguing with people because, you know, your life will speak for itself. It's just, in my case, I both use that and make use of it um in work and, you know, in the people that I interact with.
00:08:36
Speaker
Yeah, so you touched upon this a little bit, but as someone who falls at the intersection of several marginalized identities, can you tell our listeners a bit about your experience at academia, both as a student and now as an educator?
00:08:49
Speaker
I am black, obviously, as has been described. um I'm also disabled and I'm also queer. And the the, you know, the reality is that it it kind of reminds me of a meme that i I see on social media a lot. It's like, um ah it was like, something like POV, you're gay and you have nowhere to sit in the lunch room and it's like why was your best friend your English teacher?
00:09:20
Speaker
it's just like oh just go ahead and attack me just just just go ahead and stab me in the chest because ah my best friends in school definitely were my english teachers because they get it like more so than the math and science teacher and i'm not saying that there aren't you know queer friendly math and science teachers of course there are but you know the work of english is very singular to understanding identity in a way that I think math and science um it's not that they're not it's just yeah it's more um noticeable you know my mom was always like
00:09:58
Speaker
You know, you could go to, it's so funny, people are like, you can always go to Harvard, you can go to Yale, you can go to Ivy's. But what they don't tell you is that unless you believe that you can do those things, then you're not even going to attempt to send in an application. might It never even crossed my mind to attempt to try to apply to a school that was like super, super sophisticated or like high level.
00:10:21
Speaker
because I really didn't know if I was gonna be able to go to school in at all. um I was a basic student. I didn't do that great in high school, ah mainly because I was bored. And then by the time I got to college, my first semester was really bad ah because I had just come from high school and I made the mistake. And you know, it's literally you going from your momma waking you up every morning at 6.30 in the morning to now nobody doing anything for you.
00:10:47
Speaker
And i'm I literally didn't go to freshman orientation class, which was about how to do college. And my first, I i always tell students, I'm not ashamed to admit it, my first semester, my GPA was a 1.9 because I literally just didn't go to class and nobody had explained to me what the GPA was either. And so when I finally figured it out, it was like, oh my God,
00:11:12
Speaker
Oh my God, it's very weird to be on the other side of the curtain now, having been a student for so long and now having to come up with the class materials, come up with the the ideas. You know, i I always tell students like the secret is that, you know, most professors that I know typically aren't doing lesson plans until like two hours before class. But like some of them, if you're on, like if you're on your game, you've done it like a week or two in advance, but most people I know,
00:11:43
Speaker
is very like the Wizard of Oz, very the Wizard of Oz.
Cultural and Racial Dynamics in Education
00:11:50
Speaker
It's a little weird to be on this side, but I think at the end of the day, you know working with students and understanding because I was in that position and also it wasn't that long ago,
00:12:01
Speaker
I wanted to kind of back up when we are growing up, and I think especially for me as someone that had a disability, physical activity wasn't always the place that I shine. So my grades were like, I need to get the high grades because that's where I can show everybody I can excel.
00:12:17
Speaker
um So I don't know if you had like similar pressure like that, but then you realize you get into the real world and it's not about the A. It's not about that. It's about selling in a different way. So I'd love to know if you had like a similar experience where you felt like through your grades is how you had to perform um and how that's kind of transferred in your life.
00:12:36
Speaker
Yes, being in a black household is an absolute requirement. like i mean is As I said, so much of the experience of growing up in the United States, i mean it's funny that people want to talk about, like why is everything about race? Because everything is about race. like My name, DRC,
00:12:57
Speaker
comes from the fact that my parents, my mother told me they wanted a race neutral name that people could not guess when I was older. They were thinking about that when she was pregnant about the fact that like both me and my brother's name are very unique because my mother was like, we don't want people stigmatizing our children from junk. And this was like the mid 80s. So like,
00:13:25
Speaker
it it it before Elvis even born it's you're playing chest all the time and that factors very much into school and grades because like I said as a Black person the understanding and the expectation oh my god when I was How old was I? I was in middle school and I had a school resource officer ah who are used to, you know, he would be responsible for, you know, frisking kids down and handing out little deer lions and oh my God, I'm sure the deer counselors just so disappointed in all of us. I'm like, oh well, ah but right I remember he gave me when I graduated from middle school, um he gave me a copy of Jack Kerouac's On the Road and on the front page when you open the cover there was a sticker like a police sticker and his signature was a note that said um to the smartest black kid I've ever met and
00:14:28
Speaker
yeah at the time I was like oh wow it's so funny I recently found it again going through my parents stuff and my parents we were all like e like looking at that now it's just like o because the understanding is that if you're going to be black in the United States the default is that you're just not going to be as good you're just not going to be as smart you're just not going to you're not going to make it or be quite as good as that ceo that fortune 500 company because there aren't that many black people who are ceos of fortune 500 so like
00:15:05
Speaker
That idea kind of is instilled with you. But again, that's only if you let it. My parents knew from jumps. So as you said, physical activity wasn't a thing for me either. So my mom was like, you're going to have to do really well
Ableism and Workplace Challenges
00:15:20
Speaker
in school. She used to tell us that all the time. like You're going to have to get good grades. and It obviously did not hit me until, honestly, until greg so grad school. I mean, I was doing okay in undergrad, and you know then I went to grad school, and when I got to grad school, I realized, wait, people actually make a living off this? like people can actually you you know That's the one thing about a humanities degree that I think is a huge misconception.
00:15:48
Speaker
um Forbes will tell you that it's the worst degree you can have and like there's all these articles about how humanities is like sh trash and like they're like it's like basket weaving in college which to me that's such a false equivalence but like I always tell students um so I don't know about the rest of y'all but um every business on earth needs somebody that can communicate well I have worked pretty much consistently since the time I was 20 years old. And i my very first job was for NASA when I was 21. And I went from not having, could not get a job when I was like 15, 16, 17 because of ableism. um I wanted to work at the movie theater. I just wanted to make money. I started being broke. And as a teenager, I wanted money to go to the mall and do stuff and couldn't have it. So when it was time for me to have a resume in college, I didn't really have anything to put down. And it was making me feel super self-conscious. But you know what? Once the again, it goes back to the research that I was talking about. I was in the middle of it. So I thought it was just a meeting about my resume with this random woman that I met.
00:16:58
Speaker
Turns out she wasn't a random woman. She was the recruiter for NASA. And we I did not know that at the time and come to find out she liked me so much in the interview that she took my name off the list and hired me herself. um And I literally e did not expect that. So You know, it's one of those things where I realized that i hate i could you like you said I could use my grades and my intellect to make up for the things that I did not have on a traditional resume because everybody is telling you that you have to be a good worker, you have to be all physical and do all these things and that's really not true. That's when I tell a lot of disabled people is that
00:17:41
Speaker
you find what you do well, you specifically, like not necessarily what other people want you to do, find what it is that you like to do and then lean into that because that's what people like. Well, I think that this transfers into like a really interesting piece of the conversation that I'd love to get into as well.
00:17:58
Speaker
is advocating for yourself at all the institutions that you've you've been at um you know and and just through your career in academia like has that been a big piece was advocating for yourself for accommodations or had you found in your career um so far and just as a student that many places have been accommodating.
00:18:18
Speaker
Like, yeah, the humanities is not the place most of the time where people are gonna say, you know, no, or that's too difficult. Whereas I think more places like engineering or, you know, the hard sciences, because you talk about the chicken in the egg, it's so funny. I just saw this yesterday. I've seen it many times, but it popped up again yesterday. There's a meme that says the interest the um ableism cycle or something where it's like,
00:18:45
Speaker
People with disabilities can't participate in something. And then it moves to, so because they're not there, people are like, ah well, we never see disabled people here. So we don't need this because they're not here. So as a result, they create more things that don't have disabled people involved. yeah And so, and it's like, you're creating more policies and more programs and more you know ah classes that don't have disabled people in them and or, you know,
00:19:15
Speaker
involved in any kind of way, so then it gets back to, so then disabled people are not participating. And it just, it's like a giant circle that's self perpetuating um because of what you're talking about. So, I mean, I know for me as a faculty member, I mean, I'll be honest, part of the hard work about this is like, I really, really, really do not want to be a token.
00:19:45
Speaker
But also there's no one else. It's like the most frustrating thing ever. But the problem is that most of the time you're not compensated and you end up in spaces where you're made a token, whether you want to be or not. My point is like, what are you going to do with that? What do you do with that recognition? Like, what are you going to do with that assumption?
00:20:11
Speaker
because it's going to happen whether you want it or not. So now I'm like, okay, well then let me take your assumption and use it. But the reality is people are making assumptions and they're always going to do that. So for me,
00:20:27
Speaker
It's like how I have to figure out ways to take that assumption and make use of it. So that way, the next time a person wants to do it, they hopefully think back to like what I said or what I did in an attempt to try and do better.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that goes back to talking a little bit more ah just about disability erasure and ableism. um So you brought it up specifically, you know, in the workforce too, because I i know um as somebody that works at a company that's pushing for more digital accommodations, you know, there's so much ableism that comes with the word accommodation right away.
Societal Exclusion of Disabled Individuals
00:21:06
Speaker
And so breaking down those barriers, there's so many walls and there's so many layers. I definitely say it is like an onion. Um, but can we talk about disability erasure a little more and ableism and we can dive specifically into the black community or keep it. welling I mean, I think that's a really great topic. I mean, the reality. Um, so a really good example of this.
00:21:25
Speaker
um But I had just started a job, and I was literally, I was in my first 90 days. um I started in October. This was in 2015. And if you live in the district anyone that lives in DC will remember that December of 2015 was snowstorm Jonas.
00:21:44
Speaker
um a really bad snow storm that was really like it dumped like four feet of snow on dc in a very short amount of time but i was still in my 90 days and so the the reason i bring that up is because so i was brought in to work for the secretary specifically because of the schedule a amendment which is for the listeners that don't know that is a non-competitive side It's like side list of employees that are eligible to work for the federal government if you have a disability and it's ah verified by the state. um It's a fantastic resource if you're trying to get a job in the federal government because you literally are not in the same compete pile as people that are trying to get a regular job. So it's a great way to get a job on the back end. But I was brought in as a writer editor under that list. And so they knew I had a disability.
00:22:37
Speaker
from day one, I came to the interview in a wheelchair. So like, she knew that I was a wheelchair user. Fast forward to December when the entire building stayed home because of four feet of snow that was on the ground. And I'm told, I'm sorry, you still need to go into the office. And I'm just like, but why? And they were like, because you're in your 90 day probation period and you haven't accrued uh personally wore time off and i'm just like but the snow and they were just like sorry so there i was drudging my way through waist deep snow in defeat in december i get to the building it's blacked out there's no one there and somebody from legal is like walking by and she's like why are you here
00:23:26
Speaker
Because HR is making me. And she told me, she's like, you know, you could sue them. But she was like, this is a lawsuit. And she was like, you could file ah an ethics complaint with the Office of the Inspector General. And of course, you know, people are just like, if you wanted to get into your Karen mode, then you could. But once again, I i explain this to say, as a black disabled person, I cannot And the reason why it goes back to what I just said, I'm ah the only black person that has been in that position in like 30 years. I don't want to be read as angry. I don't want to be be seen as a complainer. You know, I don't want to be that guy because I'm already in this position where they but would they've told me I'm special. So it's like when you combine those two things together, you get these really weird situation where you're just like, yeah, I'm just going to follow this.
00:24:21
Speaker
And I'm just gonna go work it in a building where everybody else is at home on their laptop sipping hot chocolate and I'm in a freezing cold building in the middle of a blizzard because I don't have leave. And you know it's it's a really good example of how those two things can combine in really specific ways.
00:24:41
Speaker
that often cause harm. I think is a really great spot for us to even talk about some career advice because you're in that situation where you've already dealt with a lot of these obstacles throughout your career. And I think when you talked about that one thing that you said, you're lucky to have a job as a disabled person.
00:25:00
Speaker
I have felt in certain situations that I've been in that I do become tokenized because I can talk about my disability. So it's like, okay, Alexa works in disability. She is an expert, right? Sometimes I'm i'm not an expert, right? Like it's just my experience. I have to live with it every day. It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm the expert, but you get this automatic label on
Advice for Disabled Professionals
00:25:20
Speaker
you.
00:25:20
Speaker
So I'd love for our listeners like turning this into that teaching moment like what can you give somebody who has cerebral palsy going into the workforce advice as they start to grow their career because you've had such an amazing career already um and I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes you to.
00:25:37
Speaker
ah Yeah, no, I mean, I think that's a really good question. um You know, I do want to i want to push back and say, you know, you're like, I'm not an expert, but you are, though. You are an expert on you. So and and I think that's the advice that I would give is that you are the expert on you. So when you go into a job, but you know, if they ask you what accommodations you need, be specific as you possibly can. Do not be like, oh, well, you know, I'm um i' good. You know, I know the games that people like to play because, um you know, we get into this this mind game of like, well, I don't want to tell people because it's going to make me look bad. And like, I just want to be a team player. So I'm not ah not going to rock the boat. And I'm not going to say something that'll make me appear to be a burden. The ABA is 34 years old. Yeah. um And it's like the reality is,
00:26:34
Speaker
It's been the law for 34 years. You asking for something is not going out of the way. It's literally you saying, this is what I need to be able to do my job. But that's being said, you know, it's it's almost like when you get into a job, people are looking at you. People are I think disabled people in particular are thinking that folks are looking for an excuse to fire them.
00:26:58
Speaker
And so that forces you to overcompensate and do other things, um you know, to try and be like, I'm going to prove my work. I'm going to I'm going to work extra hard. I'm going to stay extra late. You know, if everybody leaves at five, I'm not leaving till seven thirty. You know, if everybody comes in at nine, I'm not coming into seven a.m. for a job.
00:27:19
Speaker
Yeah, 40 job. You know, you ask me, what type of advice do I get? Get every accommodation that you can. Take your leave. Go on vacation. I think that's the key point about being a disabled person is that we are conditioned to believe that our time is not as valuable as other people. The reality is, I look at this kind of stuff as like Alison Cafer, a scholar who does disability studies. She has a wonderful concept called crit time.
00:27:49
Speaker
And her argument is that it's fluid. When you have a disability, what takes somebody one hour may take you three. That does not mean that you are slow or lazy. But what it means is that it takes you three hours to produce work that's just as good, and your job means to understand and recognize that. What that means is they cannot give you an assignment that's going to take you nine hours and expect the same level of productivity and work that it would for a person who is one hour, not if you expect me to be at the high level. you know And the reality is that's an accommodation, but you have to make that known.
00:28:25
Speaker
You people get tripped up when they don't tell people the things that they need. And now they're taking three hours on an assignment that your boss said he wanted in one. And when you come to him and say, well, I have a disability now you in trouble. It's not about shame. It's about.
00:28:41
Speaker
recognizing the value of who you are as a person. You got that job just as much as anybody else and they need to value you for your labor and your time. It's not about Chang. It's about doing the job with the look to put it in a different way. My wheelchair is just as much as an accommodation as a pair of eyeglasses. Period.
00:29:06
Speaker
I look at this in the same way. It is not about like saying shame about accommodation. is It's just the way that we frame them and the way that we think about it. And that's the advice that I would give to people about how to deal with that kind of stuff in the workplace.
00:29:19
Speaker
This is something that I want to talk about as we're talking about different identities, opinions, the way people frame things.
Equity in Academia
00:29:26
Speaker
There's also been a change in academia with this too. So it was seen as more of a safe haven, right? so and And now it's kind of having things that are so politicized and there's malintent that's assumed. um So can we talk about that a little bit and how have your identities coexisted with this?
00:29:47
Speaker
I literally, for the life of me, do not understand why people have issues with the idea of equity. um But then again, if you think of equality as pi, then I gotta understand why folks are just like, well, but what about my piece?
00:30:04
Speaker
um It doesn't work like that. There are enough human rights for literally everybody. It just depends on how you look at it. And I think that academia is supposed to be the place where we talk about these kinds of things and hash it out. My job as an educator is to try to get people to understand. Again, at the end of the day, you know i'm i'm I always tell people, I'm not trying to change their mind.
00:30:26
Speaker
All I'm trying to do is tell you that there are other options. But again, I can't I can't be disrespectful to students. So, I mean, the reality is at the end of the day, the United States needs needs to embrace all of its history, and not all of it is good. Every country has these issues. This just happens to be ours. And the reality is that we have got to reconcile with it and its history in order to continue to move. That's the only way you move forward. You can't move forward if you don't discuss it and talk about it and not just talk about it, but actually take actionable steps to address it.
00:31:07
Speaker
And you always hear, you know, knowledge is power, but I really think it's how you apply that knowledge, right? And so having conversations like we're having today, breaking things down from the viewpoint that you have, like I've already learned so much. And I just don't think that people can come together and have conversation and have different viewpoints without saying,
00:31:27
Speaker
No, I'm right. And now you need to bend to my view. Like there there has been that wall that's been put up and it's something that you definitely see, it ah especially within the disabled community too. Like there's just, again, so many layers. And so, you know, when I say to people that I'm disabled, it comes back to the fact, well, no, you don't look disabled.
00:31:47
Speaker
because it makes somebody else feel more comfortable. um And I think that the- Invisible disability is actually, and I mean, I don't know, people might yell at me for this, but I think invisible disabilities are harder than physical ones for the exact reason that you mentioned, because you're having to do like double work. Like you have to like explain it to people and then manifest. Like, oh, you know, let me let me show you my lung cage.
00:32:16
Speaker
you know Let me show you the reduced capacity of oxygen that I have as a result of cystic fibrosis. it like I'm sorry that you couldn't physically see that. ah you know But like I said, it gets back to what I was saying earlier. It's about respect. It's about treating people with respect and honoring people you know in a way that makes the most sense without causing as much and too much disruption.
00:32:40
Speaker
Yeah. And i you know, we'll all go through life with preconceived notions. We'll all go through life with things that we learned that we were children, but it doesn't mean that there isn't opportunity to change. And that's really like what I would just kind of throw out to every listener today is that knowledge, going out, researching, finding things that you can connect with. From my PR background, find at least five sources, please.
00:33:05
Speaker
And also just making sure that you have conversation.
Insurance for Medical Equipment
00:33:09
Speaker
like That's one of the biggest things like that I think we've lost through so much screen time is having real conversations. um And DRC, I think we could probably talk for like four hours. um And I would absolutely love to. So definitely connect with me anytime.
00:33:24
Speaker
But, um, we're going to wrap today with a question that is not something that we've talked about, um, on this episode, but what's the number one thing you want to see changed about healthcare for adults with CP? And this is a question we're asking every guest this season. Oh, um, this is, uh, I mean, this is like a while, but I mean, it we just swing it for the fences. Uh, can I ensure my wheelchair? Like I sure ensure my car.
00:33:55
Speaker
That'd be great. That'd be great so that if anything happens in my wheelchair, I can just go get it fixed. I don't know how to go. I ain't gotta go through no process. Like when a girl bumped my my car that I bought, I mean, I had a new bumper within two days and everything was like up and running, deductible width. And you know, nobody understands this. Like, you know, that's the thing I want changed. I want people to be able to ensure durable medical goods like they do their car.
00:34:25
Speaker
In many cases, your a durable medical good is expensive as your car, but for some reason it's not treated in the same way and the policies don't match up. I really think that that would be a massive game changer to so many people, you know? And it's like, yeah, let me just pay you an extra $20 a month or whatever. And you ensure my piece of equipment. If I can get renters insurance and it can ensure the other stuff inside my house, why does that not include my wheelchair?
00:34:52
Speaker
that is one of the best points that i've heard i It just, it makes so much sense. And it's something that you would assume would be happening, like with different pieces of AT. And I just don't think that enough people realize that that it's not a reality. And on top of it, the expense to even attain that piece of equipment is already astronomical. And then when it breaks, like when I've had AFOs break, I'm like,
00:35:25
Speaker
How long can I go without getting a new one? And I just think it's something that we take on as not a need. um With the certain things like, okay, that broke, we can carry on. My bumper's dented, I can carry on. it's not you know But it should be something that it's that piece is a need for me and I should be able to get it replaced. So thank you for that answer because it's just a really interesting perspective and something that no one has answered yet this season. so I mean, that's the emotion but one thing I could, I think that's the one thing I would say. All right. All right. Well, thank you so much, Jerzy. We're so glad that we were able to have this conversation today, and I'm really looking forward to sharing this with our listeners.
00:36:06
Speaker
Yeah, thanks. It was great. Thank you for listening to this episode of Cerebral Palsy Grows Up, the podcast. The show is produced by Ashley Harris Whaley, Katie Gastra, and Kyle Kachidorian, hosted by Alexa Orban, and its logo is designed by Biron Arachi. We'd like to thank our listeners for being a valuable part of our community, and we'd like to thank you, RC Neal, for their time and expertise.
00:36:26
Speaker
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